Good, Mazda will be the first company to attempt this method of “greenery” and that means they can smile when the other makers start to follow suit

Well, they’d honestly be hardly the first. Ford was actually using BioPlastics 80+ years ago in the Model T and used them in various parts of their cars for a couple decades. Henry Ford was interested in, almost obsessed with, building an entire car, every single component, out of plant-based materials. He got a hell of lot closer than most people realize.

Though the idea kinda died off for a long time, Ford is still a leader in bioplastics research. And biofoams and plastics are used in some of their models.

What this IS the first of, and this story doesn’t really mention it, is that Mazda is working on NON-FOOD-BASED Bioplastics. Mazda actually worked with this same university partner a number of years ago to develop corn-based BioPlastics. There’s nothing revolutionary about bioplastics, they are mass-produced all over the globe. What is important about this research Mazda is sponsoring is that it doesn’t require a food-based source — usually Corn or Soybeans.

Didn’t Pauly Shore and that Baldwin brother work on the Bio project in the early 90s?

Haha shaver that movie is so awesome!

Stating that Mazda is not developing hybrid cars is not correct.

Mazda leases the whole fleet of bi-fuel (petrol-hydrogen) RX-8 with Wankel engine to Japanese authorities and companies and is expected to introduce Rotary equipped Mazda 5/Premacy based hydrogen model. Mazda also owns and runs a network of hydrogen fuel stations. Hydrogen-only version of Renesis engine exists as well.

Mazda does develop hybrids, it’s just taking different approach. The thing is that the electricity fur plug-in cars needs to be generated which, in these days, is not a CO2 free process. That’s exactly the same vision California is pursuing in the project of Hydrogen Highway.

I was going to comment on the same thing earlier kitko, then noted that the article specifically stated that Mazda wasn’t working on any hybrids “for release in the near future”. Seemingly an acknowledgement of the fact that they are developing them, just not anything that they plan on releasing anytime soon — a qualification which Mazda’s hydrogen projects would undoubtedly fall under.

Sigma, correct - depending on what is the meaning of “release”. The 5 should be released this year and RX-8 already was, but, true enough, not to the masses

Well, since Mazda is with Ford and Ford is switching towards recycled material, and the seat foam will be made from soy.

biodome sucks

This is great news. It might make cars “actually green” instead of just their fuel consumption.

Didn’t Ford make a totally bio-degradable SUV a couple years back? Can’t think of the name, but I am guessing that it was an Escape.

Ford cars bio-degrade unintentionally.

02WRXPSM, so do Toyota’s Tacoma, they had a rust issue.

02WRXPSM, your Subaru paint isn’t great either. I won’t be surprise if it “bio-degrade(s)” prematurely.

Interesting story. We’ve all commented that large-scale industrial processes affect the environment more than our used Civics do, and it’s good that a company is taking a step forward to address that.

But, it’s also ironic, because with gas well over $4 a gallon in the population centers in the U.S., the only “green” news that just about any consumer wants to hear is how a car maker is jacking up its mpg rating….

Sharpie, you’re a moron. My WRX has been out in the sun in Arizona for six years, and the finish looks nearly new. Our previous Legacy wagon was eight years old, rarely garaged, and also had very nice paint and no signs of damage. Try making up something else to complain about.

Enough with all this “going green” rubbish. As long as China is still growing nothing we do will have much of an effect.